


so high, now we cover sky lights

by Sapphire_blue



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, arya is oblivious, coffee shop AU, jon is emotionally awkward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 02:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13136898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphire_blue/pseuds/Sapphire_blue
Summary: So, this is how it goes: Arya gets a job, and it all starts there.





	so high, now we cover sky lights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hyoushin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyoushin/gifts).



> Hello, everyone! This is my gift to the lovely hyoushin for the jonrya secret santa.
> 
> I was prompted to write a coffee shop AU.
> 
> I know that this isn't a strictly coffee shop AU but when I started writing, it just led me here. I hope you like it, darling!
> 
> And on that note, Merry Christmas, everyone!

i.

 

It’s not like Arya needs the money.

She’s woman enough to admit that her parents are filthy rich, and they would give her more money than she really needs if asked. But the thing is, Arya does not want to ask. She’s an independent young woman, thank you very much.

Okay, so she still calls her parents and face-times with her various siblings every week, but she draws the line at spending her parents’ money on frivolous things. It makes her feel _guilty_. Arya Stark does not want to feel guilty.

So, yeah, she takes the job at the local coffee shop. It’s near her university campus, and it pays just enough for her to not feel like a trust fund brat.

Hot Pie can shove his snickering up his ass.

So, this is how it goes: Arya gets a job, and her brother and cousin start showing up at the shop just to make faces at her.

Why did she agree to go to the same university as Robb and Jon again?

Oh yeah, because her parents are paranoid old coots, and she means that in the most loving way possible.

Arya Stark is a fucking saint.

She envies Sansa, who was wise enough to haul ass to Vancouver with her girlfriend. She wonders for a second if it’s not too late to transfer and go live with her sister. But then again, they will probably kill each other within a week and poor Margaery would have to spend the rest of her life traumatized and in therapy.

So, yeah, she’s stuck here with her weird ass brother and cousin, who are trying to ‘make her first year memorable,’ in a decidedly misguided manner.

 

ii.

 

Arya is serving some poor sleep deprived chick her americano when Robb and Jon show up. They’ve got Theon in tow, oh joy. The assholes don’t stand in line, instead opting to bag a booth nearby. She glares at them and sends a scowl their way for good measure, and turns back in time for the next customer in line. Her break is in a few minutes, so she smiles and serves the poor bastards who clutch at their coffee like it’s their lifeline. Honestly, Arya can sympathize. It’s a college town, and most, if not all, of their patrons are students who are always one step away from bursting into a nervous breakdown.

When she is on her break, she walks up to the booth after taking off her apron.

“Shove over,” she tells Jon, who  conveniently has a space left for her beside him. Theon sends her an entirely unsubtle wink from the opposite side of the booth where he’s stashed under Robb’s arms.

 _Ha, friends, my ass_ , she thinks as she plops down unceremoniously beside Jon. She also makes a note to put salt in Theon’s coffee the next time she makes it. She does _not_ have a crush on Jon, no matter what the stupid squid thinks.

Jon smiles at her when she peers at him suspiciously, looking a little goofy, but he has always been her favourite, so she lets it pass. For now.

“Do y’all really have to come and torment me at work?”

Robb nods at her, eyes twinkling mischievously.

“I’ll go order,” he says before he gets up and swaggers over to stand in line. Normally, Arya would chew him out for daring to order for her, but she is tired, and not entirely sure that she cares all that much right now.

“So, what is it this time?” She asks Jon, pretending to ignore Theon and his ever present annoying smirk.

“Can’t we come and visit our favourite girl?” Jon says, still smiling like a demented fool.

“No,” Arya deadpans, “Out with it.”

She is talking to Jon, of course, but it’s Theon who answers her.

“Lover boy is wondering if you’d go to a party with him,” he says smugly, “We all know you’ll say yes.”

Arya ignores him, and instead turns to Jon again. “What party?”

Jon’s eyes skitter away from hers once, twice, before he finally looks at her again.

“Val’s throwing a party, freshmen are invited,” he tells her haltingly, as if she would actually say no to him. Joke’s on him, though. Arya has never learned to say no to him, and she knows for a fact that it goes both ways.

“Yeah, a couple of my friends were talking about going,” she tells the group at large as Robb returns with their orders and hands her the apple danish, “I was thinking about staying in, but I guess I could go.”

She takes a bite of her danish, savoring the taste and moaning just a little, which prompts more sniggers from the peanut gallery. “Shut up,” she tells them, noting that Jon has a slight flush to his cheeks. It is a chilly October afternoon, she thinks and makes a mental reminder to buy Jon a scarf. Aunt Lyanna would have a heart attack if her son suddenly decided to drop dead because he wanted to make a fashion statement or something equally stupid.

“Anyway, I’ll go to that party,” she turns to her cousin, “Pick me up from my room.”

Jon nods at her, smiling just a little and says, “It’s a date.”

An interesting choice of word, for sure, so she just pats his cheek and gets up on her feet.

“Break’s over,” she tells them, “See ya later, losers.”

 

iii.

 

Jon picks her up on time, around seven o’clock in the evening. He does a double take when he sees her, eyes going up and down her form in a way that may give the wrong impression to someone who hasn’t grown up with him. The dress she is wearing is a little black dress that Myrcella forced her into, citing something about men’s brains, but Arya hadn’t really been paying attention, as she was slowly being murdered by her roommate’s torture instrument that she lovingly likes to call an eyelash curler.

The dress doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination, and Arya knows that if Jon had his way, she would be wearing a burlap sack every day. The overprotective git had always liked to chase away her admittedly very few admirers.

“You can blame Myrcella,” she tells Jon, rolling her eyes, “I know I look stupid.”

“No,” Jon yelps before he calms down slightly, “No, you look….nice.”

Well, that’s certainly _new_.

“Sure, Jon,” Arya tells him, hooking her arm into the crook of his elbow, “Let’s go.”

 

iv.

 

The party is at full swing when they arrive, music blaring loud and a mass of bodies in the middle of the room grinding against each other in a way that would give her mother a heart attack. Robb and Theon are already there, along with a few of their friends, and they waver her and Jon over.

“Are you guys having fun?” Theon has to yell over the loud music to be heard, and Arya nods as she gives Robb a quick hug.

She makes conversation with their friends, nodding and smiling at appropriate times, before Jon suddenly speaks up, “Oh, there’s Val. I should go say hello to her.”

Arya untangles her arm from his - she’d forgotten that she had even placed it there - and waves him off, watching as he makes a beeline for the blonde on the other side of the room.

Arya has met Val a few times, as she has met most of Jon’s friends, and she likes her, she does, but sometimes she envies the grace she exudes. Val is all blonde hair and blue eyes, with a spine carved out of steel, and sometimes Arya thinks she could have easily fallen for her. She doesn’t blame Jon.

She looks around for her friends, wondering if they had made it here, when she spots Gendry and Hot Pie near the punch bowl. Gendry has always refused to drink but she knows he is monitoring Hot Pie’s alcohol intake. That thought makes her smile. Always the protector, her friend is.

“I’m just gonna go and look around,” she tells her current companions before wandering off to her friends. She pokes Gendry on the arm when she reaches them, wryly commenting, “Keeping an eye, are you?”

Gendry nods as Hot Pie scows at them, a red plastic cup in his hands.

“I’m not a child and you are not my parents,” he tells them almost petulantly.

Gendry cuffs the back of his head good naturedly and Arya rolls her eyes. She has been rolling her eyes a lot lately. Sometimes she thinks her eyes are going to get stuck that way.

The conversation flows from there, with all three of them ribbing each other naturally, when an arm snakes around her shoulders. She looks up to see Jon, but he is not looking at her. No, he is glowering at her friends like they fed Ghost coffee.

“Sorry, guys,” Jon tells Gendry and Hot Pie completely unapologetically, “I’m going to steal my date here for a bit.”

Her friends watch her go as Jon guides her away from them and out the door to the back yard.

“What was that about?” Arya asks him calmly. It is important that she remains calm, she tells herself. She does not appreciate being manhandled but she really doesn’t want to go off into a tangent right now either.

Jon rubs the bridge of his nose with his fingers, sighing a little, before he says, “I’m sorry.”

“You bet your ass you are,” Arya glares at him, “Now, what was that about?”

Instead of answering her, however, Jon keeps glancing away from her face. Arya is tapping her feet into the wet grass when he finally seems to make up his mind. He closes the distance between them in one step and crushes his mouth to hers, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly, as if he is afraid she will bolt if he lets go.

In complete honesty, Arya is sure she couldn’t run away now even if she wanted to. Her knees have gone weak and the only reason she is standing upright is because of Jon’s arms around her. She gasps a little when she feels him licking at her bottom lip, asking for entrance, and Jon takes that chance to slip his tongue in her mouth.

Arya thinks she might be dreaming. Jon doesn’t kiss her, not in real life, neither does he pull her so close to him that it’s hard to see where she ends and he begins. But then just as abruptly, Jon pulls away from her, staring at her dazedly.

Arya opens her mouth, perhaps to tell him that it’s okay, that she doesn’t mind him kissing her, but nothing comes out. It’s incredibly frustrating, no boy has ever kissed her speechless before. “I - “ she starts again, before snapping her mouth shut. Jon’s eyes are not glazed anymore; no, they are horrified and before Arya can even make another attempt to tell him anything, he is gone.

 

v.

 

The following week is kind of frenzied, and between her studies and her work, Arya is keeping her mind successfully distracted. If she does not, she is scared that she will sink into a catatonic state at the destruction of the best thing in her life.

Jon is not just her cousin, he is her best friend, has always been. That is what made her love him so much in the first place. If she loses his friendship, she does not know what she will do. And the kiss - gods, the kiss. Why would Jon kiss her, of all people? She has never been anything truly extraordinary, not like Ygritte or Val. Maybe Jon was drunk out of his mind. That would make more sense. But she is not thinking about Jon, no, thank you very much.

Jon doesn’t come into the shop anymore, and Robb and Theon come once, somberly informing her that they are sorting Jon out. What that actually means, Arya doesn’t know, nor does she wishes to. She is keeping herself busy and she is making sure that her grades are not suffering.

She is not grumpy _(shut up, Myrcella)_ , and she is not one step away from committing homicide _(shut up, Hot Pie)_.

Then after a week, when she is going off on her break, Arya looks up to see Jon smiling sheepishly at her.

“Hey,” he tells her lamely.

“Hey,” she responds, equally lame.

“Can we talk?”

“We are talking.”

“Arya.”

“Jon.”

Finally, Jon seems to have had enough. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, before opening them and looking straight into her own.

“Okay, so here’s the thing. I love you, like, a lot, like, a crazy lot, and I am emotionally stunted or so Robb likes to tell me, and I know I shouldn’t have run away, but I was a coward, and I was wondering if you would give me another chance to let me make up for it and maybe we could date and be a couple and do all couple-y stuff.”

The entire coffee shop goes silent, staring at the two of them like they are their favourite drama show.

Arya is once again speechless.

“I know I am an idiot and I shouldn’t have sprung this on you here at work but like I said, I’m an idiot, and I didn’t want you to be mad at me anymore.”

Arya is still speechless.

“Arya?” Jon sounds so uncertain that in the end, that is what brings her out of her shock.

“I’m not mad,” she tells him quietly, acutely aware that every single person in the coffee shop is listening to them, “And I would like that very much.”

Jon looks at her hopefully, his uncertainty being washed away by the beginnings of a bright smile. “Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” Arya tells him, “Yes!”

Jon whoops loudly, before he picks her up and twirls her around like they are in a honest to god movie, and when he sets her down, he kisses her gently, like a flake of snow caressing her skin.

They break away to the sound of everyone clapping and cheering, and she even sees a few people wipe away errant tears.

Arya has never been more in love.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I have never read nor written a coffee shop AU for jonrya before. Let me know what you guys think? Every kudos and comment is highly appreciated!
> 
> (Also, guess who is finally free of cancer? Yep, I am! Thank you so much to everyone for every kind word you've all said to me! They meant the word to me!)
> 
> ~ Sapphire xoxo


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